Re: Telebasket.com España - Baloncesto español - Superguide

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

OzerskyJA wrote:

> This is a league profile / scouting report on Pau
> Gasol from a spanish league site.  It's informative,
> and the english is downright hilarious if, like me,
> you find that sort of thing funny.
>
>  http://es.telebasket.com/ENG/player_info.asp?id_player=5200
>  <<Telebasket.com España - Baloncesto español - Superguide.url>>

Thanks, I love bad Spanish. I still don't get how Gasol purportedly "passes the ball like a guard" and has "court vision (if there's an open
man, he finds him)" when his stats page shows just 24 assists in 33 games. Also more than twice as many turnovers as assists. I remember Toni
Kukoc's assist/rebound stats in Europe and there was simply no basis to compare these two players.

I have no doubt Chris Wallace has seen him and Tony Parker play during his recent European vacation. If he thinks that highly of this guy based
on the game and additional tapes he sees, then he should take him, we'll wait a year if necessary for eligibility, and I have no problem with
that. But the stats just don't show any kind of complete player yet, so Wallace needs to beware of wishful thinking or of basing his player
evaluation on one game and some highlight film. Thinking rationally, what are the chances this guy will suddenly turn into a Nowitzki type
shooter? The numbers just don't back it up.

If by human nature you need to compare one WB import basketball player to another, why not also compare Pau Gasol to that Kiwi guy from Dallas
we almost traded for (I forget his name...Sean something maybe. He torched us in the 4Q of a game once, before this
career-high-game-from-a-nobody phenomenon became an obvious pattern under the Poultrino outbreak system). That guy was also a tall, skinny
streak shooter who put up mediocre stats in every other category and was too scrawny to play defense. "On paper" that's what Gasol sounds like.
And why is the letter "L" missing in his first name?

Joe

p.s. but what would I know, I'm just expressing skepticism based on the available stats. It would be great for the game if he's as good as
advertised.

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